I wasn't talking about stats, but more about the way he played for the team. The stats weren't bad, but his play was selfish all season long (or at least that's what I've heard from some Raptors fans).

The games that I saw Rafer Alston play can be best described as Latrel Spewell in the mid 90's for Golden State...

It seemed like Alston started off the season distributing the ball, but found out that (aside from Bosh and Rose), there wasn't too much talent left on the team after Carter made his exit. Therefore, he took it upon himself to step up and take more shots. Spree was probably a little more trigger happy than Skip was... I'm just saying, the reason Alston's described as "selfish" is because he's one of the best players on the team, so he takes it upon himself to score. 9 out of 10 times, a point guard puting the ball in his own hands as a scoring role is criticized as being selfish. Not all the time, but mostly.

Because they're getting, basically, an equal player back for him... Mike James isn't a piss-on or anything; he averaged over 10 points last season. I'm just saying, for the Rockets offense, Alston is a better distributor. He got 7 assists a game playing on a team with, basically, only Chris Bosh. That'll increase with T-Mac and Yao.

TMC wrote:Well, he isn't a role model. He almost engaged into a fight with Sam Mitchell last season.

If he was so good, why were the Raptors so eager to trade him?, and why is the only move nobody questioned in Toronto?

That is absolutely right and the reason why I hope the Rockets haven't made a mistake with this trade. Mike James seemed to have a good attitude and you need that to be with Yao, McGrady and especially Jeff Van Gundy!

Ok, people, there's more than simply a player's attitude when it comes to a trade. Alston is a better playmaker, James is a scorer. They made the trade to try and spark the team into a running, Suns-Warriors offense (that's Alston's game). It would work perfectly with Stromile and T-Mac. It's a great trade.

I'm with migya in this one, all the talent in the world won't help if you don't have the right mindset. I'm not saying it's a bad trade, but it's risky. It may be great, but also has a chance to backfire.

The Warriors were a team in need of a superstar like player to become a legit playoff team. The Rockets are furthe than that and need stable, effective players to really have a chance of being championship team. This is a risky trade and I'm surprised they made it. They would have been better off getting Earl Watson

Nevertheless, Alston and Davis are the same level of a risk (as far as attitude). Davis gave up on his old team. Are we worried? Not so much, really... I think Houston feels the same about Alston. Everybody deserves a second chance (Alston didn't even cause that much trouble to begin with... you guys are blowing it out of proportion).